Learn Dzongkha

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Students are motivated by fun and it is the most important ingredient in a successful class. These expressions will help a new teacher a lot with class control and basic communications. It also shows students that the teacher is trying to learn their language, give and take, mutual respect.

This lesson will help teachers with classroom commands in Dzongkha.

As it is customary for the students to rise at the entry of the teacher, you as a teacher would like to tell them to sit down which in Dzongkha would be ZHU. I will say that again Zhu , this is a polite form of telling please sit down.

In an opposite situation to ask a student to stand up , one would say YAR LONG.

When you want the students to repeat you would use the command CHA LOG BAY NANG.

So if the students are to repeat slowly you would say

GO LAY GO LAY LABSH!


And if you want to students to hurry up then you would say

JOG PA RANG JOG PA RANG!

Ans finally if the teacher is in a midst of a noisy classroom and you want to say "BE QUIET!" , then I suggest you use the universal language of putting your finger against the lips and saying SHHHH!.


We will go over the phrases once again:

Greetings : Kuzoozangpo La
Sit Sit : Zhu Zhu :
Stand up : Yar Long:
Repeat : Char Log Bay Nang
Slowly: Golay Golay
Be Quiet: SHHHH

Tashi Delk and Happy learning.

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This lesson will teach you how to count from 1 to 10. The numbers taught are cardinal numbers.

One: Chi
Two: Nyi
Three: Sum
Four: Zhi
Five: Nga
Six: Dru
Seven: Du-in
Eight: Gay
Nine: Gu
Ten: Chu Tham

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A tourist in Bhutan would like to know where a particular road leads to and curious to know how far is a particular place?

These are common phrases or questions which can be learnt and used while learning Dzongkha.

The Dzongkha phrase for "Where does this road lead to?" is "Lam Di Gathey Jo Ni Mo?"

This phrase consists of words for

Road = "Lam";
This = "Di";
Where = "Gathey";
Go to or leads to = "Jo Ni"
The interrogative particle which makes it a question = "Mo".

"Gathey Jo Ni Mo" would mean "Where to ?" , this phrase can be used pointing to a road and asking "where is this road leading to?" this same phrase can also be used to ask a person where he or she is going .

Another questions which is typical while one is travelling is "How far from here?" or "How much distance from here?"

The Dzongkha phrase for this is "Dikhar Lay Tharee Gademchi Mo ?" this translates to "How much is the distance from here?"

The new words in this question are

Dikhar: Here
Lay: From, so "Dikhar Lay" means "From Here"
Tharee: Distance
Gademchi: How much

The interrogative particle "Mo" makes it a question.

So Dzongkha learners, submit your comments to make this podcast better.

Happy Learning and Tashi Delek!

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The second lesson in conversational Dzongkha ,the national language of Bhutan is about introduction.

As a tourist or a language learner one would be keen to know the name of the person, whom one is talking to and then would also be keen to introduce oneself.

The phrase to ask "What is your name?" is "Choey gi Ming ga chi mo ? "

Dzongkha has a separate vocabulary of honorific words, that is words to be used for elders or to denote respect and the royalty.

So the phrase to ask "What is your name?" "Choey gi Ming ga chi mo?" is for peers and younger ones, the same question of "What is your name?" for an elderly person would be "Na gi Chen ga chi mo?"

The word "Choey" meaning you is replaced with "Na" which is the honorific word for "You". Similarly "Ming" which is the word for "Name" is replaced with "Chen" which is its honorific word.

Self introduction like "My name is Shankar" or "I am Shankar" is translated into Dzongkha as "Ngayi Ming Shankar een."

The Dzongkha word for "I" that is "Nga" has a distinct nasal sound and is clearly different from "Na" which is the honorific word for "You".

In conversation while meeting one could say "Hello, My name is Shankar, What is your name?" which translated would be "Kuzoo zangpo La , Ngayi ming shankar een , choey gi ming ga chi mo? "

After receiving the response, for the question it would be polite to say "Kaadinchey La" which means "Thank You". .

So Kaadinchey La folks till we meet next time happy learning and Tashi Delek.

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This is a podcast to help you learn conversational Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan.
Initially the podcast would be updated weekly and later the frequency of the episodes would increase based on the response. So listeners go ahead and subscribe to Learn Dzongkha Podcast and leave your critical comments.

Happy Learning and Tashi Delek!!

Welcome to the first lesson on Dzongkha. This lesson will introduce you will basic phrases of greetings.

As in most Asian languages the greetings for all day is the same. The greetings phrase is "Kuzoo Zangpo La! " This can be used all day long.

The reply to this phrase is also Kuzoo Zangpo La.

La is a word for respect, similar to Sir in English. So you can suffix La with any word or sentence.

"Gadaybay Zhu Ga? " is the phrase for "How are you"?

The reply is "Legshom" (pronounced Layshom).This roughly means "I am fine"

And the word for Thank you is "Kaadinchey La"!

So folks happy learning and till we meet again.

Kaadinchey La and Tashi Delek!!